Adam Jones

Introduction

Adam Jones is a former teacher at Malet Lambert School in Hull who was barred from teaching for life in August 2023 after being convicted of making indecent images of children. He had used Snapchat to download the images, admitted in a police interview that he was sexually interested in females aged 13 and upwards, and told the school that what he did was “completely separate to work”. He resigned in June 2021 after his arrest, received a community order and a five-year entry on the sex offenders’ register, and admitted the regulatory allegation through a signed statement of agreed facts rather than face a hearing.

Background Information

Jones was employed as a teacher by Malet Lambert School from 2018, and was still at the school when Humberside Police arrested him on 25 February 2021. Nothing in the published decision records any prior disciplinary history, and the panel noted there was no evidence of his disciplinary record before this matter, nor any evidence that he had demonstrated exceptionally high standards in his personal and professional conduct or contributed significantly to the education sector. No testimonial statements were put before the panel on his behalf. His teaching career therefore ran from 2018 until his resignation on 1 June 2021, cut short in its third year by the criminal investigation.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Snapchat, indecent images, arrest. A TRA panel found proven the conviction of Mr Jones for two counts of making indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs of children, which he admitted.

According to the agreed facts, Jones used Snapchat to download indecent images of children, which led to his arrest by Humberside Police on 25 February 2021 on suspicion of taking, making or distributing such photographs. In his police interview he admitted possession of indecent photographs of children and admitted being sexually interested in females aged 13 years and upwards. He then attended an interview with the school in which he admitted accessing child pornography on Snapchat, stated that he was interested in children aged 13 to 17 years, said that images of younger children had been shared with him but he had not looked at them, and stated that in his view what he was doing was “completely separate to work”. During an investigatory interview at the school in May 2021 he also admitted accessing child pornography online since April 2020.

The criminal case followed quickly. On 6 October 2021 Jones indicated he intended to plead guilty to two offences contrary to section 1(1)(a) of the Protection of Children Act 1978 — making indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs of children — and was convicted that day; the charges related to 10 Category A images, the most serious category, and 87 Category C images. On 17 November 2021 he was sentenced at Humber Magistrates’ Court to a community order with a rehabilitation activity requirement of 20 days, to be completed before 16 May 2023, and was placed on the sex offenders’ register for five years. Humberside Police had referred him to the Teaching Regulation Agency the day after his arrest, and in the regulatory case he admitted the allegation in a statement of agreed facts signed on 22 May 2023, which the panel considered at a private meeting without a hearing on 25 August 2023.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The panel found a strong public interest in the safeguarding and wellbeing of pupils given the findings of making indecent images of children and Jones’s admitted sexual interest in young females aged 13 upwards, and warned that public confidence in the profession could be seriously weakened if such conduct were not treated with the utmost seriousness. It found he had a deep-seated attitude, pointing to the number of images — some in the highest category — the offending taking place over more than one time period, and his admitted sexual interest in females aged 13 upwards. It observed there was no expression of remorse apparent from the summary of his school interview, and noted that he had accepted he would no longer be able to be a teacher or work with children or anyone classed as vulnerable again. The panel recommended a prohibition order with immediate effect and no review period.

Current Status

On 30 August 2023 Sarah Buxcey, deciding on behalf of the Secretary of State for Education, confirmed that Mr Jones is prohibited from teaching indefinitely and cannot teach in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children’s home in England. The order contains no provision for a review period, and the decision maker decided that Mr Jones shall not be entitled to apply for restoration of his eligibility to teach. The order took effect from the date it was served on him, and he had a right of appeal to the King’s Bench Division of the High Court within 28 days. His five-year placement on the sex offenders’ register, imposed in November 2021, ran alongside the ban, and the conviction itself remains recorded.

Impact on Their Career/Life

The prohibition order ends Jones’s teaching career permanently: the ban covers every school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation and children’s home in England, and with no review period and no entitlement to apply for restoration there is no route back. Its terms reach further than the classroom, since a prohibition for this kind of conviction forecloses work with children generally — an outcome Jones had already accepted, telling the panel process he would no longer be able to work with children or anyone classed as vulnerable. The criminal sentence, a community order rather than prison, was described by the panel as placing the offence at the less serious end of the possible spectrum, yet it still found the offences particularly serious and his attitude deep-seated.

Sources

• GOV.UK, “Mr Adam Jones: Professional conduct panel meeting outcome” — source